Having a significant budget for PR can open a lot of doors for your company – most crucially it allows you to delegate your PR goals to a reputable agency that understands the ins and outs of the business, ensuring that your message is powerfully communicated to your target audience. However, for start-ups, SMEs or struggling businesses that have a small budget (or none!) there are still numerous ways to achieve great results with limited resources. Here are some top tips for getting your company known, improving your company’s image and communicating your desired message to your target audience, all on a shoestring budget!
Harness the creativity of your employees
If you’re looking for the best way to get a point across, why not open the floor to your employees? This will allow you to draw ideas from every section of your company, and you might be surprised to find that the best ideas come from the people you’d least expect. If you already have a clear message but want some evidence to substantiate your claims, you can source quotes from your employees – picking the best ones and featuring them in the press release or newspaper article will certainly make the featured employees feel appreciated. Activities such as this are great for improving morale, unity and pride in the company .
Utilise your non-financial resources
If money is a bit tight, what other resources does your company have that you can utilise for PR purposes? Experience and knowledge is a big one – you can offer to speak at industry events, offer to write an article for a periodical or write informative blog posts to help people understand your industry better. Anything that accentuates your reputation as a thought leader for your industry is worth doing for free. If you have free office space, this can be rented out in order to provide more finances for PR. You could even use your company premises for a charity event or a fundraiser – just be creative!
Social media doesn’t cost a thing
Social media is not only a great networking tool for business purposes, but when used effectively it also helps to give people an insight into your brand and the values of your company. Especially on LinkedIn, there are numerous groups you can join with niche interests, allowing you to raise awareness of your brand and communicate your message to a receptive audience. When using social media, try to ensure that your social media posts have a human touch; no one wants to follow an account that ruthlessly self promotes, it’s like going to a party and meeting someone who only wants to talk about themselves! Social media isn’t a hard-selling tool, your primary aim is to engage with your audience and provide them with value (in the form of great blog posts, interesting industry insights and so forth) to let people know your company is reliable and trustworthy.
Invest in the future
As your business grows, you’ll be able to dedicate more funds to PR. Remember, if your company suffers from a poor reputation or lack of exposure, having the best products and services in the world aren’t going to make you commercially successful, hence why investing in PR isn’t just preferable for the future of your company, it’s essential! As Benjamin Franklin once said: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
Tags: creativity, PR, PR budgets, social media
